Systems and methods for providing route redundancy in networking systems

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/800,712 entitled “Systems and Methods for Providing Route Redundancy in Networking Systems” and filed on Aug. 12, 2024, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

This disclosure relates generally to networking systems, and, more particularly, to methods and systems for providing route redundancy in network systems which include a passive optical network (PON).

A conventional PON includes one or more pieces of network service equipment, such as terminals (e.g., optical line terminals (OLTs)), at a central location connecting to one or more last mile termination units (LMTUs) disposed at respective customer premises (e.g., physical locations serviced by the PON) via one or more fibers. A PON is typically implemented using a point-to-multipoint topology in which a feeder fiber from a terminal, such as an OLT, serves multiple last mile termination units. An LMTU may be, for example, an optical network terminal (ONT) or an optical network unit (ONU) that is optically connected to the terminal via a respective last mile distribution optical fiber received at the LMTU. Typically, the distribution optical fibers for respective ones of the LMTUs are coupled to a feeder optical fiber via a fiber distribution hub (FDH) using an optical splitter. One or more fiber distribution terminals (FDTs) may be utilized to provide many-to-one optical connections between various sets of optical fibers, e.g., to connect a feeder optical fiber to multiple distribution optical fibers, to connect a distribution optical fiber to multiple other last mile optical fibers respectively received at multiple LMTUs, etc.

When connecting a new or prospective service location to a PON, typically a technician determines a location at which an optical fiber can be spliced or otherwise connected to connect the prospect service location to the PON. However, as such techniques are often highly reliant on the individual knowledge and experience of technicians, such techniques can fail to consider a number of factors that can affect services provided to the new service location. For example, when a technician relies on convenience or proximity in determining a splice point, factors such as equipment, capabilities, and loading of network entities (such as serving centers, central offices, and/or terminals) and/or of network components may go undetected and unconsidered, and in particular in situations when portions of the PON have been moved or modified unbeknownst to the technician. As such, the connection of the prospect service location may not be able to provide the various services requested by a customer, and/or the prospect service location may be incorrectly determined to have no nearby network access location to support the various requested capabilities. Additionally, such conventional techniques are highly manual, cost-intensive, and time-intensive, as they require technicians to physically travel to the vicinity of a prospect service location to investigate possible locations for splicing. Moreover, such conventional techniques can be inconsistent across multiple technicians and may result in inefficient and/or suboptimal usage of PON resources.

Furthermore, such conventional techniques do not consider external network providers and/or external service providers, and therefore may lead to a service location requiring a larger path and subsequent footprint to bring the prospect service location into the network. Still further, various types of redundancies for a prospect service location may not be considered under conventional techniques. As such, improved methodologies for detecting options for a prospect service location with regard to splice points, network options, and/or redundancies is desirable.

In an embodiment, a method for providing route redundancy for services at a service location of a passive optical network (PON) of a service provider includes obtaining an indication of a service location of the PON and an indication of a set of required services to be provided by the service provider at the service location; and detecting, based on respective geospatial locations of a plurality of optical components of the PON and interconnections of the plurality of optical components, that two or more physical polyline routes, each of which is configured to support the set of required services at the service location, include different elements. The different elements may include at least one of: different respective on-ramp facilities of the PON, different respective optical line terminals (OLTs) of the PON, different respective physical polyline route segments, of the PON, which are optically connected to a specific primary optical fiber bundle that is included in each of the two or more physical polyline routes, or different respective provider serving facilities, where the respective provider serving facilities include at least one of: a serving office of the service provider or an external network provider facility provided by an external network service provider other than the service provider. The method may additionally include configuring, in accordance with the different elements, the detected two or more physical polyline routes to be a set of redundant physical polyline routes for providing the set of required services to the service location; and causing one or more services to be delivered to the service location via the configured set of redundant physical polyline routes.

In an embodiment, a system for providing route redundancy for services at a service location of a passive optical network (PON) of a service provider includes one or more processors and one or more memories storing a set of computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: obtain an indication of a service location of the PON and an indication of a set of required services to be provided by the service provider at the service location; and detect, based on respective geospatial locations of a plurality of optical components of the PON and interconnections of the plurality of optical components, that two or more physical polyline routes, each of which is configured to support the set of required services at the service location, include at least one of: different respective on-ramp facilities of the PON, different respective optical line terminals (OLTs) of the PON, different respective physical polyline route segments, of the PON, which are optically connected to a specific primary optical fiber bundle that is included in each of the two or more physical polyline routes, or different respective provider serving facilities. The respective provider serving facilities may include at least one of: a serving office of the service provider or an external network provider facility provided by an external network service provider other than the service provider, and the at least one of: the different respective on-ramp facilities, the different respective OLTs, the different respective physical polyline route segments, or the different respective provider serving facilities nay be different elements of the two or more physical polyline routes. Additionally, the set of computer-executable instructions may be further executable to cause the system to: configure, in accordance with the different elements, the detected two or more physical polyline routes to be a set of redundant physical polyline routes for providing the set of required services to the service location; and cause one or more services to be delivered to the service location via the configured set of redundant physical polyline routes.

is a block diagram of an example PONin which the systems, methods, and techniques of the present disclosure may be implemented. The example PONincludes one or more pieces of network service equipment (e.g., terminals) such as optical line terminals (OLTs) (an example one of which is designated by reference numeral) at a central location (e.g., at a central office) connecting to one or more last mile termination units (LMTUs), . . . ,at respective customer premises, . . . ,. Depending on the implementation, the one or more terminals may include OLTs for fiber cables, terminals for copper wiring, etc. In some implementations, the terminalincludes PON ports (e.g., 32 ports, 64 ports, 128 ports), each of which may correspond to a respective splitter (e.g., as detailed below) for connecting to the LMTUs by way of one or more distribution hubs and/or distribution terminals. As used herein, the term “termination unit” generally refers to a last mile termination unit (LMTU), which may be implemented by an optical network unit (ONU) or an optical network terminal (ONT), for example. The last mile termination units, . . . ,may be located outside and/or inside the locations or customer premises, . . . ,. In some examples herein, the term “optical terminal” generally and categorically refers to a last mile termination unit (e.g., an ONU or ONT) or to a terminal (e.g., an OLT). Further, it will be understood that, although the below topology and description refer to fibers in a fiber network (e.g., optical fibers in an optical fiber network), additional topologies (such as copper wires and/or digital subscriber lines (DSLs) in a copper network) and/or combinations of topologies (such as a hybrid optical fiber/copper wire network) are contemplated as well.

The example PONis implemented using instances of point-to-multipoint topology. For example, in the example PON, a first feeder wirefrom the terminal(which may be and/or be referred to herein as an “Foptical fiber” or a “primary wire or fiber”) serves the one or more last mile termination units, . . . ,via respective distribution optical fibers, . . . ,(which may be and/or be referred to herein as “Foptical fibers, . . . ,” or “secondary fibers or wires, . . . ,”) and respective last mile optical fibers or wires, . . . ,. In the illustrated example, the first feeder wireis optically coupled to the plurality of last mile termination units, . . . ,via an example one-to-many splitter(e.g., an optical splitter), which is disposed, located, implemented, etc. in an example distribution hub. In some arrangements, the distribution hubis located within a geographic area (e.g., a neighborhood) such that the customer premises, . . . ,are proximally close to the distribution hub, and typically each of the customer premises, . . . ,and respective last mile termination units, . . . ,is disposed at a different signal distance from the distribution hub. A “signal distance,” as generally utilized herein, refers to a distance over which a signal (e.g., an optical signal) travels or is delivered. In further implementations, the distribution hub,may include a downstream-facing conduit (e.g., a conduit in the direction of locations serviced by the PON) receiving a number of fibers or wires (e.g., 124 wires, 248 wires, 596 wires, etc.). The wires may feed to various onramps-of the PON(also interchangeably referred to herein as “onramp facilities,” “on-ramps,” and/or “on-ramp facilities”-of the PON) via a splitter,(e.g., each with 16 strands, 32 strands, 64 strands, etc.), and the onramps-may optically or communicatively couple to the LMTUs-via respective last mile fibers or wires-

In some implementations, the PONmay or may not include additional feeder wires, splitters, and onramps for a plurality of additional customer premises. Moreover, a PON may or may not include a plurality of distribution hubs. For example, as shown in, the example PONincludes a second feeder or primary wirefrom the terminalthat is coupled to another plurality of last mile termination units-at respective customer premises-via another many-to-one splitterincluded in another distribution hub, respective secondary wires-, respective onramps-, and respective last-mile optical fibers or wires-

Further, although not shown in, the PONmay include any number of FDTs to provide additional point-to-multipoint connections within the PON. For example, the FDHs,may include one or more respective FDTs, one or more FDTs may be optically disposed between an FDH and one or more LMTUS, etc.

As utilized herein, the “components” or “optical components” of the PONgenerally refer to the devices, nodes, and wires of the PON. For example, the components of the PONshown inmay include the terminal; the distribution hubs,; the splitters,; the LMTs-,-; the onramps-,-; any number of FDTs (not shown), and the wires and/or fibers interconnecting the devices or nodes (e.g., the feeder wires or fibers-,-,-,-,-).

In some scenarios, a terminal (e.g., the terminaland/or one or more of the last mile termination units-,-) and/or one or more of the onramps-,-may transmit test signals and/or patterns, indication light, and/or other types of measurement signals into an optical fiber or wire in response to control signals received from a computing device. For example, the terminal, the one or more LMTUs-,-, and/or the one or more onramps-,-may receive control signals from a computing device(e.g., a laptop, a computer, a tablet, a mobile phone, etc.) associated with a service technician or other agent of the PON, and may responsively generate and transmit test signals and/or patterns. In some examples, the computing devicecontrols a terminal and/or onramp of the PONvia one or more networks(which may include one or more wired and/or wireless private networks and/or public networks, such as the Internet), and/or by direct interaction with the terminal/onramp (e.g., via a hotspot provided by the optical terminal/onramp, a service port of the optical terminal/onramp, etc., not shown in). Additionally and/or alternatively, control signals may be received from one or more serversof the PONthat are used to manage the PON, the network(s), etc. For example, the one or more serversmay schedule and execute diagnostics of various components of the PONand/or of the PONas a whole; generate alerts and alarms; initiate various actions; provide user interfaces, which may include graphical user interfaces (e.g., at the computing device); log, historize, and/or otherwise store data generated by and associated with the PON(e.g., in one or more data stores); and the like. For example, one or more applications may execute at the server(s)and/or the server(s) may host one or more services to provide management, administrative, and/or test functionalities of the PON. Additionally or alternatively, the computing devicemay interact with the server(s)using a mobile application, a web service call, a direct and wireless connection (e.g., as described above), a wired connection, etc. Measurements, other sensed data, and/or other types of results based on the transmitted test signals and/or patterns may be provided to the requesting computing device or server,.

In some implementations, the server, computing device, and/or other such electronic device may monitor bandwidth at the PON ports as well as at corresponding ports of the distribution hub, LMTUs, or other such terminals. In further implementations, the servermay determine to move a user from a particular port to another based on the bandwidth utilization and/or indications from a customer (e.g., a customer complaint, a user indication, a system determination, etc.).

Various information and data associated with, utilized by, and/or generated by the PONmay be stored in the data storesof the PON. For example, the data store(s)may store records of customer contact events with a technical support organization supporting the PON, customer service call records, records of operating conditions and events which occurred, logbooks, and the like. Additionally, the data store(s)may store applications which may execute at the one or more servers, and/or which may be downloaded or otherwise provided to the technician computing devicefor installation and execution thereon. Further, the data store(s)may store data indicative of performance, faults, diagnostics, statuses, states, and/or other data corresponding to the components of the PON. Still further, the data store(s)may store data indicative of the architecture, infrastructure, and component connectivity of the PON, including identifications of various PON components and indications of which PON components connect to which other PON components. In further implementations, the data store(s) may store other configuration data, e.g., as described herein. Of course, the data store(s)may store any updates to any and all of the information and data stored therein.

Moreover, the data store(s)include a distribution record representative of a particular distribution hub(e.g., distribution hub, distribution hub, etc.), one or more ports in the distribution hub representative of one or more connections with termination units (e.g., LMTUs,, . . . ,), one or more splitters(e.g., splitter, splitter, etc.) associated with the distribution hub, etc. Further, the distribution record may include additional information associated with users, such as associations between various ports in the distribution hub and various premises, GPS data for the various premises, a status and/or type of the connection to the premises, a PSI score, a wavelength (2) and/or attenuation rate, an identifier (e.g., a premises ID, a termination unit ID, etc.), a serial number (e.g., of an optical network terminal (ONT)), etc. Similarly, the distribution record may otherwise include additional information as described and/or as otherwise associated with various implementations described herein.

The serversmay additionally store one or more modules for executing particular operations. For example, the serversin the exemplary embodiment ofinclude any one or more of: an onramp qualification module, an upstream trace module, an external service module, a redundancy module, and/or any other such module performing functionality as described herein (e.g., with regards tobelow). It will be understood that, although each module is described as performing a particular function, fewer modules may perform the functionality as described herein. For example, a single combination module may perform the functionalities described as being performed by any or all of the onramp qualification module, the upstream trace module, the external service module, and/or the redundancy module. Further, it will be understood that, although the onramp qualification module, upstream trace module, external service module, and redundancy moduleare depicted as being stored at the servers, in some embodiments at least portions of any of the modules may execute at the computing deviceand/or in conjunction with execution at the servers (e.g., a client/server model, web service call, etc.).

In some implementations, the onramp qualification moduleoperates to determine or identify one or more onramps or onramp facilities (e.g., one or more onramps-and/or-, which may include candidate onramps and/or selected or designated onramps) for a service location (e.g., one or more of customer premises-,-) to connect to the PON. The service location may be a new service location, an existing, active service location at which a different set of services (e.g., end-user or customer services) is to be provided, or an existing inactive or deactivated service location at which end-user services are to be provided. As such, the service location may be generally referred to herein as a “prospect service location,” a “prospective service location,” or a “target service location.” An “onramp,” as utilized herein, generally refers to a network access point for the PONor, said another way, to a set of devices and/or components configured to facilitate access to the PON. As such, “onramps” may be referred to interchangeably herein as “onramp facilities” and “onramp points.” Generally speaking, onramps-and/or-of a PONare facilities of the PONwhich are fixedly disposed at respective physical locations or sites within the coverage areas and regions serviced by the PON. Typically, the onramps-and/or-include one or more types of devices, components, and/or hardware into which one or more optical fibers or wires of the PONare received or are otherwise physically connected, thereby optically connecting the onramps-and/or-to the PON. For example, in the upstream direction (e.g., towards the central office), the onrampreceives primary fiber or wireand the onrampreceives primary fiber or wire. If and when desired, LMTUs may be physically connected to respective onramps. For example, as shown in, LMTUs,are physically connected to onrampvia respective last mile fibers or wires,, and LMTUis physically connected to onrampvia last mile fiber or wire. Example types of onramp facilities of PONs include terminals (e.g., optical fiber drop terminals), splices and/or splice points (e.g., optical fiber splices), loops (e.g., optical fiber loops), cables (e.g., optical fiber cable trunks, such as Foptical fiber cables), and/or other types of onramp facilities. Each onramp facility-and/or-of the PONmay be uniquely identified, within the PON, via a unique identifier such as an Onramp or Facility ID, and may be associated with other descriptive information such as the type of onramp, the status of onramp facility (e.g., in-service, pending, proposed, future), geospatial physical coordinates, nearest street and/or easement address, total number of ports, total number of available ports, etc. For example, such identifications and information that is descriptive of onramps may be stored in the data store(s). Depending on the implementation, multiple customer premises-may connect to a single onramp facility-. For example, in the exemplary implementation of, two customer premisesandconnect to a single onramp facilityvia respective LMTUsandand respective last mile fibers or wires,

In some implementations, the upstream trace moduleoperates to detect a physical (e.g., polyline) route within the PONfrom an onramp facility (e.g., an onramp-determined by the onramp qualification moduleand/or corresponding to an LMTU-) corresponding to a service location (e.g., one or more of customer premises-) to a serving office (e.g., central office) of the PON.

In some implementations, the external service moduleoperates to analyze and determine qualifications of an external facility to the PONto provide one or more services (e.g., end-user services) to a service location (e.g., one or more of customer premises-).

In some implementations, the redundancy moduleoperates to determine one or more redundant connection schemes for a service location (e.g., for one or more of customer premises-). Such connection schemes are generally referred to herein as “redundant” as the connection schemes are similar or identical (e.g., redundant) with respect to providing a set of required services (e.g., optical, network, and/or other types of end-user services) to a service location even though the connection schemes themselves may differ in one or more elements (e.g., different fibers, devices, components, terminals, physical polyline routes, offices, service providers, etc.). For example, the redundancy modulemay operate to determine different or differing elements (e.g., redundant fibers, redundant devices or components, redundant terminals, redundant physical polyline routes, redundant offices, and/or redundant providers) across different physical polyline routes for the service location, so that services which are consumed at the service location may be maintained at the service location via the determined, different physical polyline routes.

is a block diagram of an example environmentin which a set of services (e.g., a set of required services such as end-user services) is to be provided to a service location(e.g., a prospect service location) via a PON of a service provider of the PON. For example, the set of services may include optical and/or other types of services, and the service locationmay be a location that is serviced by the service provider which provides the PONofand at which the set of services are to be consumed. For ease of illustration, and not for limitation purposes,is described herein with simultaneous reference to.

As depicted in, in the example environmentthe service locationis physically located within a first geographical service areaserviced by the PON service provider, where the first geographical service areais delineated into three sub-areas or regions,, and. As also depicted in, in the example environmentthe service locationis proximately located to a second geographical areaserviced by a service provider that is not the PON service provider. Accordingly, for ease of reading herein, the terms “PON service provider” or “service provider” are interchangeably used herein and generally refer to a service provider which provides services to service locations via a PON (e.g., the PON), and the term “external” service provider, as used herein, generally refers to a service provider other than the PON service provider. Depending on the implementation, the external service provider may be another PON service provider, another terrestrial communication network service provider, and/or any other such telecommunications provider. The term “terrestrial communication network” may refer to a PON, a copper network, and/or any other such network using terrestrial lines.

The service locationof the PON service provider may be an existing service location at which the set of required services is to be provided by the PON service provider, or the service locationmay be a new service location at which the set of required services is to be provided by the PON service provider. For example, the service locationmay include one or more of a residential, commercial, non-commercial (e.g., school, non-profit, governmental, etc.), or mixed-use (e.g., hybrid residential, non-commercial, and/or commercial) service location which is to be initially serviced by the service provider, or the service locationmay include an existing residential, commercial, non-commercial, and/or mixed-use service location which is being reactivated or to which additional or changed services are to be provided by the service provider. The set of required services at the service locationmay include, for example, an service via a particular wavelength band, a data communication service such as Internet service or calling services, a broadband service such as streaming services, and/or other types of services which are to be delivered to the service location via the PON for consumption at the service location. Typically, a customer corresponding to the service locationmay specify or indicate the set of required services at the service location.

In the exemplary embodiment of, the example environmentincludes five different onramps-of the PON located within the vicinity of prospect service location. In the example environment, onramps,,, andare physically located or disposed within the sub-area or regionserviced by the PON service provider, and onrampis physically located or disposed within the sub-area or regionserviced by the PON service provider. Depending on the implementation, the onramps,,,, andmay be one of onramps, . . . ,(p-), andor, . . . , andof.

Further in the exemplary embodiment of, the geographical service areaof the service provider includes two serving officesandof the PON. Serving officeis physically located or disposed within sub-area, and serving officeis physically located or disposed within sub-area. Each serving office,may include one or more respective terminals (e.g., Optical Line Terminals or OLTs, not shown) via which services may be delivered via the PON to various service locations, for example, via respective optical fibers,,,, . . . ,. Additionally, each serving office,may include one or more network interfaces (not shown) via which the PON may communicatively connect with other networks external to the PON, such as the Internet, networks of other service providers, etc. For example, each serving office,, may be a different instance of the central officeshown inand may be communicatively connected with the network(s).

further illustrates that the example environmentincludes a fiber distribution hub (FDH)optically connected to serving officevia the optical fiberand optically connected to onrampsandvia respective optical fibers,. As such, the FDHmay include an optical splitter (not shown), the optical fibermay be a primary or Foptical fiber, and the optical fibers,may be secondary or Foptical fibers. For example, the FDHmay be an instance of the FDHor the FDHof. Still further,illustrates that onrampdisposed in sub-areaof the PON is optically connected via optical fiberto serving officedisposed in sub-areaof the PON, and onrampof the PON is optically connected via optical fiberto another serving office of the PON, which is disposed in the sub-areabut not shown in.

Additionally, as depicted in, the example environmentincludes an external serving officeof the external service provider, where the external serving officeis disposed or physically located within the second geographical areaof the external service provider (e.g., externally with respect to the coverage area of the service provider of the PON). The external serving officemay provide data communication and/or broadband services to locations serviced by the external service provider (not shown in) by using any suitable technology, such as optical networks, copper networks, cable networks, wireless networks, and/or the like (also not shown in). As is shown in, though, the external serving officeof the external service provider is communicatively connected via an inter-provider connectorto the onrampof the PON provided by the service provider. As such, the PON optical fiberreceived at the PON onrampmay be communicatively connected, via the inter-provider connector, to the communication media or transport mechanismprovided by the external service provider and communicatively connected to external serving office. For example, when the communication media/transport mechanismof the external service provider is another optical fiber, the inter-provider connectionmay include an optical connector, and when the communication media/transport mechanismof the external service provider is a type of communication media or transport mechanism which does not support optical signals or transmissions (e.g., copper, cable, wireless, etc.), the inter-provider connectionmay include a converter.

Thus, as depicted in, the example environmentincludes multiple candidate physical polyline routes-via which the set of required services may possibly be provided by the service provider to the service locationvia at least some components included in the PON of the service provider. For example, a first candidate physical polyline routemay include the onramp, the optical fiber, and the serving officeof the PON. A second candidate physical polyline routemay include the onramp, the secondary optical fiber, the FDH, the primary optical fiber, and the serving officeof the PON. A third candidate physical polyline routemay include the onramp, the secondary fiber, the FDH, the primary optical fiber, and the serving officeof the PON. A fourth candidate physical polyline routemay include the onramp, the optical fiber, and the other serving office of the PON, which is located within the sub-areaand not shown in. A fifth candidate physical polyline routemay include the onramp, the optical fiber, and the serving officeof the PON, all of which are located within the sub-areaadjacent to the sub-areain which the service locationis disposed. A sixth candidate physical polyline routemay include the onramplocated in sub-areaof the PON, and the optical fiberand serving officelocated in sub-areaof the PON. A seventh candidate physical polyline routemay be via the onrampand optical fiberof the PON, the inter-provider connector, and the communication media/transport mechanismand serving officeof the external service provider.

It is noted that each of the candidate physical polyline routes-are described as being “physical polyline” routes, as each of the routes include multiple lines or segments of physical communication media or transmission mechanisms. For example, while the primary optical fiberis depicted inas a single, logical primary optical fiber, in its physical implementation the primary optical fibermay include multiple (e.g., “poly”) physical segments of optical fibers that are sequentially connected to enable the optical path provided by logical optical fiberto curve, bend around corners, and otherwise be contoured as required by the physical contours of streets and/or easements via and/or next to which the optical fibers are installed. As such, it is understood that each of the optical fibers-depicted inare logical depictions, as each may include multiple, different physical segments or lines of physical communication media or transmission mechanisms as required.

It is further noted that each of the physical polyline candidate routes-are described as being “candidate” physical polyline routes, at least because although such physical polyline routes may exist between the onramps(which are proximally-located with respect to the service location) and different serving offices, one or more of the candidate physical polyline routes may or may not be able to sufficiently support the set of services required at the service location.

Generally speaking, as will be described in more detail elsewhere herein, the techniques described in this disclosure, either alone or in combination, allow the PON system to determine or detect (e.g., automatically determine or detect) one or more candidate physical polyline routes between on-ramps which are proximally-located to a service location and a serving office, and/or to determine or detect (e.g., automatically determine or detect) one or more components of the candidate physical polyline routes for servicing the service location. The techniques may include selecting or designating (e.g., automatically selecting or designating) one or more of the detected candidate routes and/or components thereof (e.g., as primary and/or redundant routes and/or components) for providing the set of required services at the service location, and causing the set of required services to be provided to the service location via the selected or designated routes and/or components.

relate to qualifying onramps of a PON for a service location of the PON. For clarity of discussion and clarity of illustration, and not for limitation purposes,are discussed simultaneously herein and with simultaneous reference to.

depicts a flow diagram of an example methodfor qualifying onramps for a service location of a PON, such as the PONof. In an embodiment, at least a portion of the methodofmay be executed by the onramp qualification moduleof the PON. However, it is understood that the any one or more portions of the methodmay be executed by other modules and/or components of the PON, and/or in PONs other than the PON. Additionally, in embodiments, at least a portion of the methodmay operate in conjunction with at least a portion of one or more other methods described herein. Further, in some embodiments, the methodmay include additional and/or alternate blocks other than those depicted in.

depicts an example scenarioin which an embodiment of the methodofis utilized to qualify onramps for the example service locationwithin the environmentof. Generally speaking, “qualifying” onramps relates to detecting or determining candidate onramps or candidate onramp facilities via which a service location may connect to a PON and via which the PON is able to provide a set of required services (e.g., a set of required services) to the service location. The set of services required at the service location is typically specified by the customer corresponding to the service location, and may include one or more services such as streaming, broadband services (e.g., broadband Internet services), other types of data communication services, etc. Different services may be provided by a serving office to the service location over the PON via different wavelength bands and may require respective different filters, optical fibers, and/or other optical components in order for the services to be delivered from the serving office to the service location. For service provider networks which comprise one or more different delivery technologies (such as a service provider network which utilizes optical networking technology and/or least one other type of network technology such as copper, DSL, Ethernet, packet, etc.), delivery of such services may require respective specific components within each different technological portion of the service provider network in order for the services to be delivered from a serving office of the service provider network to the service location.

The service locationat which the set of required services is to be provided may include one or more residential, commercial, non-commercial, and/or mixed-use service locations. For example, the service locationmay be a single-family residence, a building which includes both commercial and residential locations, an industrial use building, a multi-unit residential building, a school dormitory, a governmental building with different offices, etc. Further, the service location may be a new service location of the PON, or the service location may be an existing service location whose onramp(s) are in need of (re) qualification. For example, at an existing service location, a new service which is being added may require a different onramp (e.g., due to the lack of necessary networking and/or component technology at or available via the present onramp) for delivery of the new services, or the existing service location may have been deactivated (or otherwise not being used) and is being reactivated for service.

Turning to the methodof, at a block, the methodmay include obtaining an indication of a service locationand an indication of a set of required services to be provided by the PON at the service location. The indication of the service location may be, for example, a mailing or street address or an indication of a geographical location (e.g., geospatial coordinates or other type of indication of the geographical location of the service location) at which the set of required services is to be provided. The indication of the service location and the set of required services may be obtained via any suitable means, e.g., via user input, from a database or file, from another computing device and/or application, and/or the like.

At a block, the methodmay include filtering, based on the geographical location of the service location, a set (e.g., a group) of on-ramp facilities of the PON to identify or obtain a set of candidate on-ramp facilities for the service location, where each candidate on-ramp facility of the group is optically connected to a respective serving office via a respective physical polyline route within the PON. In an embodiment, the filteringmay be based on the geographical location of the service location. For example, the filteringmay include filtering a set (e.g., a group) of onramp facilities of the PON based on the geospatial coordinates of the service location. Referring to the example scenarioofto illustrate, the onramp facilities within a predetermined radial distance r (e.g., as represented by referencein) of the service location(e.g., as represented by the geospatial coordinates of the service locationand/or by any other suitable location indication) may be determined by filteringthe group of onramp facilities located within the sub-areas,,of the PONbased on respective geographical locations of the group of onramp facilities (which may be indicated or determined, for example, by the onramp facilities' proximities to mailing or street addresses, and/or by respective geographical locations of the onramp facilities such as geospatial coordinates or other type of indication of the onramp facilities' geographical locations). In some implementations, the filteringof the set of on-ramp facilities to identify at least some of the onramp facilities within the radial distance r (reference) of the service locationmay be determined by utilizing a geographical mapping (e.g., a street, graphical, and/or network map and/or data representative thereof, such as a data table or data file) of the areas surrounding the service locationto determine relative locations of onramp facilities with respect to the service location, such as depicted in. The mapping(s) may be stored in the data storeof the PON, for example. In some implementations, the filteringof the set of on-ramp facilities to identify at least some of the onramp facilities within the radial distance r (reference) of the service locationmay be determined by calculating respective straight-line distances (e.g., “as the crow flies”) between geospatial coordinates of the service locationand the respective geospatial coordinates of some of the onramp facilities. The respective geospatial coordinates of at least some of the onramp facilities of the PON may be stored in the data storeof the PON, or may be obtained (e.g., may be obtained in-line in conjunction with the execution of the method) from one or more onramp facilities, for example. Of course, other techniques for the filteringof the set of on-ramp facilities based on a predetermined radial distance r (reference) from the geospatial coordinates of the service location may be utilized in addition to or in place of the techniques described above.

In the example scenario, the filteringhas resulted in seven onramp facilities being identified as being located within the radius r (reference) of the service location, e.g., onramps,,,,,, and, and thus the seven identified onramp facilities are included in the set of candidate onramps for the service location. Onrampsandare located outside of the radial distance r (reference) and thus are excluded from the set of candidate onramps for the service location. A maximum number of candidate onramps and/or the radius r may be pre-specified and may be modifiable as needed for different service locations. Additionally or alternatively, the radius r (reference) may be variable. For example, the filteringto determine candidate onramps may expand if the filteringis unsuccessful with a smaller radius (e.g., if the filteringresults in no onramp facilities within a radius of 5 yards, the radius r may expand to 10 yards, etc.), and the filteringto determine candidate onramps may contract (e.g., by reducing the radius r) if the search returns too many candidates (e.g., a number of candidates greater than a maximum threshold of total number of candidates).

In some embodiments, the set of candidate onramp facilities for the service locationmay be additionally or alternatively filteredfrom the set or group of on-ramp facilities of the PONbased on the set of required services at the service location. That is, if an on-ramp facility and its corresponding physical polyline route do not have the optical components, bandwidth, capacity, and/or other characteristics necessary to support the delivery of the set of required services to the service location, the on-ramp facility is excluded from the set of candidate onramp facilities for the service location. For example, the filteringmay be based on respective characteristics of respective physical polyline routes optically connecting each on-ramp facility to a respective serving office of the PON. The characteristics of the respective polyline routes may include, for example, respective optical components and/or types of optical components included in each physical polyline route (e.g., so that each candidate physical polyline route includes the necessary optical and/or non-optical components for providing the set of required services, such as previously described), available and/or predicted availability, bandwidth, capacity, and/or utilization of each physical polyline route, types of services supported by each physical polyline route, respective total distance between the service location and the respective onramp of each physical polyline route (e.g., via roads, easements, or other jurisdictionally-approved pathways via which optical fibers may be laid or otherwise installed), respective ease of access (e.g., for laying or installing optical fibers) from the service locationto the respective onramp of each physical polyline route, to name a few. For example, when the filteringis based on available and/or predicted bandwidth and/or capacity of respective physical polyline routes of the group of onramp facilities, those onramp facilities which are not able to support (and/or are which are predicted to be not able to support) the set of required services at the service locationin accordance with one or more specified performance criteria may be excluded from the set of candidate onramp facilities for the service location.

Indeed, in some implementations, the methodmay include detecting and/or otherwise determining one or more characteristics of the respective physical polyline routes of the candidate onramp facilities for the service location. In some embodiments, the methodmay operate in conjunction with the methodfor performing an upstream trace operation and/or with other techniques described herein to detect or otherwise determine one or more characteristics of the respective physical polyline routes of the candidate onramp facilities for the service location. At any rate, to detect or otherwise determine one or more characteristics of the respective physical polyline routes of the candidate onramp facilities for the service location, the methodmay include sending a test signal from a serving office to an on-ramp facility and/or sending a test signal from an on-ramp facility to a serving office (e.g., to detect the presence of various components within the physical polyline routes); measuring current bandwidth and/or capacities of physical polyline routes; and/or measuring or detecting other characteristics of physical polyline routes by physically utilizing components and/or testing equipment of the PONto thereby determine one or more characteristics of the respective physical polyline routes of the candidate onramp facilities for the service location. Additionally or alternatively, the methodmay include determining or otherwise detecting one or more characteristics of the respective physical polyline routes of the candidate onramp facilities for the service locationby obtaining information from various data stores associated with the PON(e.g., data store), where such data stores may store mappings and/or locational information of streets, easements, street addresses, and/or other pathways; historical usages (e.g., bandwidths, capacities, etc.) of different physical polyline routes and/or various optical segments of the different physical polyline routes (e.g., over time, for a predetermined time period, etc.); historical costs of access and/or installation of PON components for physical polyline routes (e.g., financial costs, time costs, etc.); planned buildouts, replacements, reconfigurations, and/or removals of optical components, optical fibers, and/or interconnections within the PON; customer records; network configuration and/or performance data; and the like. In some situations, the methodmay include detecting or otherwise determining one or more characteristics of the respective physical polyline routes of the candidate onramp facilities for the service locationby predicting one or more characteristics of physical polyline routes based on historical data, such as obtaining predicting future usages (e.g., bandwidths, capacities, etc.) of physical polyline routes. Of course, other suitable techniques for detecting or otherwise determining one or more characteristics of the respective physical polyline routes of the candidate onramp facilities for the service locationare possible and may be utilized by the method.

At a block, the methodmay include selecting, from among the group of candidate on-ramp facilities, an on-ramp facility for providing the set of required services to the service location, where the selection may be based on the set of required services at the service location. Generally speaking, the selected on-ramp facility may have the characteristics (e.g., components and/or equipment, bandwidth/availability, etc.) to support the set of required services at the service location. In some cases, the selected on-ramp facility may be selected based on additional or alternate criteria, such as cost, ease, and/or total round-trip easement or pathway distance of installation. For instance, the selectingof the on-ramp facility for the service location may include selecting the on-ramp facility based on one or more characteristics of the respective physical polyline route of the each candidate on-ramp facility and/or based on a respective round-trip easement distance between the service location and each candidate on-ramp facility included in the group of candidate on-ramp facilities. As such, in embodiments, the methodmay include determining the respective round-trip easement distance of the each candidate on-ramp facility based on a geographical mapping and/or based on respective geospatial coordinates of the service location and each candidate on-ramp facility. In embodiments, the selectingof the on-ramp facility for the service location may include selecting the on-ramp facility based on at least one of user input or one or more pre-defined characteristics of on-ramp facilities and/or associated with on-ramp facilities. Examples of pre-defined characteristics may include optical and/or non-optical components; types of optical and/or non-optical components; physical, technical, and/or operational characteristics; identities of respective service provider providing the on-ramp facilities; default settings; limits and/or ranges of conditions associated with the on-ramp facilities; and the like.

In some situations, multiple candidate onramp facilities may have the preferred characteristics for servicing the service location. In these situations, the methodmay include selectingthe onramp facility for providing the set of services to the service location based on a particular characteristic or criteria (which may be predefined) and a threshold or target value or level of the particular characteristic or criteria (which may be predefined). For example, the cost of installation, the round-trip distance of installation, etc. with respect to corresponding thresholds or targets may be the basis for selecting from among the multiple candidate onramp facilities having the preferred characteristics for servicing the service location.

In some situations, multiple candidate onramp facilities may be ranked based on respective suitabilities of the candidate onramp facilities for servicing the service location, where the suitabilities may be based on one or more predefined or specified characteristics or criteria and/or corresponding thresholds, and the selectingof the onramp facility may be based on the rankings. In some situations, the selectingmay include selecting multiple candidate onramp facilities for the service location. For example, one onramp facility may be selected to be a primary onramp facility for the service location, and other onramp facilities may be selected to be a secondary or backup onramp facility for the service location(e.g. based on one or more predefined or specified characteristics and/or thresholds). Indeed, in some embodiments, the methodmay operate in conjunction with the methodand/or other techniques described herein to provide redundancy at the service location.

At a block, the methodmay include causing one or more services (e.g., one or more optical and/or other types of services) to be delivered from a serving office of the PON to the service locationvia the selected on-ramp facility. For example, the methodmay include, upon the selectingthe on-ramp facility, sending an instruction to configure and optically connect the on-ramp facility to an LMTU (not shown in) associated with the service location. For instance, if the service locationis a deactivated service location, the methodmay include sending an instruction to the serversand/or to a technician computing deviceto initiate reactivation and diagnostic testing of the optical connection between the LMTU associated with the service locationand the selected onramp facility, as well as the physical polyline routes from the selected onramp facility to corresponding serving offices. If the service locationis a new service location, the methodmay include sending an indication of the selected onramp facility and a work order to initiate the installation of an optical connection between the LMTU associated with the service locationand the selected onramp facility. In some embodiments, the blockmay include sending an instruction to the serving office(s) and/or any intermediate components which are optically disposed between the serving office(s) and the selected onramp to provide (and/or to initiate the providing of) the one or more services to the LMTU associated with the service location.

Of course, in embodiments, the onramp qualification modulemay execute multiple instances of at least a portion of the method, e.g., in parallel and/or sequentially for different service locations. As such, in an embodiment, the methodmay further include obtaining an indication of a second service location of the PON and an indication of a second set of required services at the second service location, filtering the set of on-ramp facilities of the PON (e.g., based on any one or more filtering criteria such as those previously described) to obtain a second group of candidate on-ramp facilities for the second service location, and selecting from among the second group of candidate on-ramp facilities for the second service location, a second on-ramp facility for providing the second set of required services to the second service location, where the selecting of the second on-ramp facility may be based on any one or more selection criteria, such as those previously described. In this embodiment, the methodmay include assigning the selected second on-ramp facility to the second service location for providing the second set of required services to the second service location via the PON. An indication of the assignment may be stored in a data store of the PONand/or may be provided to a user interface and/or to another application associated with the PON, for example. Optionally in this embodiment, the methodmay further include causing at least one service to be delivered from a respective serving office of the PON to the second service location via the selected second on-ramp facility, e.g., in manners similar to those described elsewhere herein.

illustrates a block diagram of an example upstream trace network, implemented in a PON (e.g., PONof).

In particular, a computing device (e.g., computing device) traces a cable connectionvia which a serving officemay provide network capabilities to a prospect location. In particular, the computing devicedetermines a nearest splice point or onrampto the prospect locationthrough which the prospect locationcan connect to an existing cable connection (e.g., cable connection). In some implementations, the computing devicedetermines the nearest splice pointthrough an on-ramp qualification process as described with regard toabove. In some such implementations, the computing devicedetermines a geographic location (e.g., latitude and longitude) for the prospect location, and determines a nearest splice pointas described above with regard to. It will be understood that, although the disclosure herein refers to techniques performed with regard to the nearest splice point, in further implementations, the computing devicedetermines to use a further splice point(e.g., if the nearest splice pointbelongs in an external provider network as described below with regard to, for redundancy purposes as described below with regard to, if the further splice pointprovides a shorter buildable route, etc.).

The computing devicethen determines a nearest polyline(e.g., part of the cable connection) in the PON through which the prospect locationis to connect to the serving office. In some implementations, the computing deviceuses a lookup radiusto determine a search areain which the computing devicesearches for the nearest polylinein the PON. Depending on the implementation, the lookup radiusmay be 5 feet, 10 feet, 50 feet, etc. In some implementations, the lookup radiusmay be variable and/or may expand if a search is unsuccessful with a smaller radius (e.g., if a search finds nothing at with a radius of 5 feet, the search may expand to 10 feet, etc.). In some implementations, the computing deviceperforms the search for the nearest polylinethrough one or more databases associated with the PON (e.g., data store(s)). In further implementations, the computing devicemay use the longitude and/or latitude of the nearest splice pointto determine a nearest polyline. In further implementations, the computing deviceuses other such techniques for detecting the nearest polyline(e.g., analysis of past historical records from the splice point, analysis of polyline capabilities for nearest polyline, etc.). as described herein.

The computing devicemay then associate the nearest splice pointwith the detected polylinein one or more stored records. Further, the computing devicemay additionally trace through the detected polylineto any terminals (e.g., terminal), previous splice points (e.g., splice point), previous strands of fiber, etc. through to the serving office. Similarly, the computing devicemay then store the results of the trace in one or more stored records. In some implementations, the computing devicetraces through the detected polyline